Verification system for non-traditional learning operations

ABSTRACT

An audit and verification process ( 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120 ) is used to encode at least one personal identifier ( 70, 75 ) onto a media ( 80, 90 ) capable of interfacing with a personal computer, typically a floppy disk ( 80 ), encoding at least one password onto a viewable media, typically a videocassette ( 110 ) onto the floppy disk ( 80 ), displaying a prompt on a computer screen of the personal computer which requires a match of the at least one password from the videocassette ( 110 ) with the at least one password encoded on the floppy disk ( 80 ), storing multiple questions pertinent to a subject matter of the videocassette ( 110 ) on the floppy disk, displaying at least one question of the multiple questions on the computer screen of the personal computer and storing the answer to the at least one question on the floppy disk ( 120 ). The at least one password on the videocassette ( 100, 110 ) is preferably an audio password, but may include visual passwords as well as combinations.

This application claims benefit of Provisional Application 60/024,627filed Aug. 27, 1996 and is a nation stage of PCT/US97/15,077 filed Aug.27, 1997.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to an electronic method and system forimplementing the method which improves the efficiency and effectivenessof providing continuing education seminars while providing audit courseregistrant compliance and comprehension of the content material as wellas verifying course registrant participation and attendance, therebypromoting the secure and controlled delivery of education materialsdirectly to a registrant's home or place of work in a non-traditionalelectronic learning environment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many professionals are required to earn continuing education creditswithin a time period defined by state accrediting agencies associatedwith each respective industry. Failure to meet these continuingeducation requirements can result in suspension of an individual'sprofessional license.

Accrediting agencies typically authorize selected public or privateorganizations to serve as providers or program sponsors in designatedgeographic areas. It is the responsibility of each provider to submitproposed programs to the accrediting agency for approval. Accreditingagencies examine the content of these programs and usually approve ordisapprove them within thirty days from the date of submission.

Once the programs have been approved, the providers are free topublicize the availability of a seminar to any and all industryprofessionals in the state. Program seminars are currently beingpresented to fee paying course registrants who attend traditional,typically live, classroom events. At the conclusion of each seminar, aprovider representative or monitor signs documentation which verifiesregistrant attendance at the continuing education event. The providerthen notifies the state accrediting agency that the registrant hasearned continuing education credits. The provider and the accreditingagency track the industry professionals' continuing education seminaractivity until the appropriate number of credits have been earned.

While industry providers have been offering continuing educationseminars in this traditional manner to state professionals for manyyears, increasingly, providers are seeking new solutions to a myriad ofchallenges, including rising operating costs, over-sized resources fromfaculty to physical plant, and growing competition for the student pool.At the same time, technological advances in electronic delivery havemade learning in the home and workplace more versatile andcost-effective than ever. The dynamic nature of the technology industry,coupled with provider needs for increased business efficiencies hascreated a situation requiring new partnerships which can dramaticallytransform the way learning is effected. Changing social, economic anddemographic trends associated with end-user course registrants makeissues of convenient course accessibility, viewing flexibility, andaffordability critical to future provider plans to implement alternativemethods of delivering continuing education seminars.

Through the audit and verification system which will be described,professionals are able to view approved programs provided through avideotape library service while simultaneously responding topersonalized information encrypted on the accompanying auditverification tool. Registering and participating in electronicallydelivered continuing education seminars frees the professional toconduct business during normal, daytime hours when clients andassociates need to access their services.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The audit and verification system is a cost-effective method fordistributed learning by participants, particularly suitable in settingswhere the participant is not capable of attending traditional classroomsettings. The system permits learning to progress at the pace of theparticipant while still providing audit and verification capabilitiesthat the participant is the same as the registrant. These capabilitiesare provided by the inclusion of audio and/or visual password(s) in eachvideocassette segment. These password(s) or embedded indicia must beentered onto computer disks provided by the course provider, such diskshaving been encrypted with biographic information supplied by theregistrant and personal identifier information supplied by theregistrant. The participant must be capable of matching both thebiographic information as well as the personal identifier informationfor the audit and verification system to proceed. Subsequent to theentry of this user-specific information, the participant is required torespond to a bank of generated questions which test the comprehension ofthe participant of the viewed material. The system is capable ofanalyzing the answers which have been input by the participant andinstant feedback is provided. The system is capable of requiring apredefined level of competence of the subject matter be achieved by theparticipant prior to indicating that sufficient mastery of the subjectmatter has been demonstrated. This predefined level of competence is setby the appropriate state accrediting agency.

These and other objects of this invention will be evident when viewed inlight of the drawings, detailed description, and appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangementsof parts, a preferred embodiment of which will be described in detail inthe specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings whichform a part hereof, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of the continuing education course registrationand product distribution;

FIG. 1A is a flowchart of the encryption aspects of the diskettepreparation and distribution,

FIG. 1B is a flowchart of a CD-ROM variation of the product;

FIG. 1C is a flowchart of a DVD-ROM variation of the product;

FIG. 1D is a flowchart of a video and photographic variation of theproduct;

FIG. 1E is a first flowchart of an Internet variation of the product;

FIG. 1F is a continuation of the flowchart of FIG. 1E;

FIG. 2 is a schematic of the continuing education required participantactivities;

FIG. 3 is a schematic of the continuing education audit, verification,assessment and certification,

FIG. 4 is an exemplary initial computer screen display after activationof the AVT module;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary computer screen display showing the informationfields which must be entered by the participant;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary computer screen display showing a summary page ofa two segment continuing education course;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary computer screen display which shows a subscreenwhich requires the participant to correctly enter the password for thissection;

FIG. 8 is an exemplary computer screen display which summarizes theprogress made in the first segment of the continuing education course;

FIG. 9 is an exemplary computer screen display which shows a sample testquestion with four possible answers;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary computer screen display after the participanthas answered all questions associated with the first segment andevaluation of the progress of the participant;

FIG. 11 is an exemplary computer screen display showing a feedbackoption;

FIG. 12 is an exemplary computer screen display showing a notepad forentry of questions or comments to the course instructor;

FIG. 13 is an exemplary computer screen display showing an option forthe participant to start the program over;

FIG. 14 is an exemplary computer screen display showing an overall AVTprogress report; and

FIG. 15 is an exemplary computer screen showing customization options.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

This invention will now be described in detail with referenced topreferred embodiments thereof In brief, the audit and verificationsystem is a method which permits state accrediting agencies to insurethat professionals which the agency has oversight responsibilitythereover, effective maintain their skill levels at high levels througheffective continuing education.

Videocassette & Floppy Disk Version

As seen in FIG. 1, the continuing education course 10 is marketed toindustry professionals in various ways. This may entail direct mailings,advertisements in publications of interest to the targeted professional,incorporation into trade journals, and other well-known mechanisms knownin the art. It is recognized that the continuing education course wouldpreferably have been pre-approved by the appropriate state accreditingagency to insure that the professional would receive continuingeducation credit subsequent to participation in the continuing educationcourse. The targeted professional reviews 20 the promotional material,which may contain various topics, and decides whether the subject matterof any of the listed continuing education seminars 10 is of interest. Ifthe professional decides that the topics are not of immediate interest,but may be of interest in the future, he files the information 30 in amanner which would permit retrieval at a later date. However, if thereis information which is of interest, then upon identification of thepertinent course or courses 40, he contacts the course supplier. Thenature of this contact may typically be via telephone 50 (generallyusing a toll-free telephone number) or electronically, via for example,a web site established by the course provider. As advances continue tobe made in telephone conversations over the Internet, this conversationwith the course provider may be made using telephone links over theInternet. During this contact with the course supplier, the participantwould provide various biographic pieces of information 70 to permitmailing of the information to the participant as well as several (e.g.,1 to 20) personal identifiers which are unique to each participant. Eachaccrediting entity can establish their own identifiers, which should bepersonal data that can be verified. In a preferred embodiment of theinvention, the participant will provide more than one personalidentifier to insure a statistically significant level of “uniqueness”is present for each participant. A non-limiting list of exemplarypersonal identifiers would include for example, credit card numbers,maiden name of participant's mother, maiden name of participant's wife,license plate numbers, participant's birth city, birth city ofparticipant's mother, birth city of participant's wife, credit cardinformation, professional license number, etc. This information will beused later in the process to restrict entry into the Audit &Verification Tool, (AVT) student module. Basic input validationtechniques are used to verify that the course selected is a validcourse. Other fields are validated as much as possible to insure thatthe fields are valid, the techniques including field length, legalcharacters, and any other validation appropriate to the input field.

In addition to the biographic information and personal identificationinformation, the participant is required to provide a minimum amount ofinformation about the computer system which is necessary to insure auditand verification compliance. This information would include at aminimum, the type of computer, (i.e., IBM, IBM-compatible, Macintosh);and the computer operating system (e.g., DOS®, Windows® 3.1x, Windows®95, Windows® NT, UNIX®). Optionally, if the participant is knowledgeableregarding the specifics of the computer system, information regardingthe floppy disk drive size (e.g., 3.5″, 5.25″); the amount of RAM(Random Access Memory, e.g., 16 MB, 32 MB, 64 MB, 128 MB); processorgeneration (e.g., 80286, 80386, 80486, 80586, 80686, pentium, MMX);processor speed (e.g., 33 MHz, 66 MHz, 90 MHz, 120 MHz, 133 MHz, 166,MHz, 200 MHz, 266 MHz); existence of a co-processor (e.g., mathco-processor); hard disk capacity (e.g., 200 MB, 400 MB, 600 MB, 1 GB, 2GB, 4.3 GB, 6.4 GB, etc.); existence of a sound card; existence of aCD-ROM and the speed thereof (e.g., 2×, 4×, 6×, 8×, 16×, 32×); andInternet access (e.g., via modem at 14.4K, 28.8K, or 56K, ISDNconnection, T1 line) may be provided.

A random or predetermined number of these personal identifiers are thenencrypted 80 onto a floppy disk (AVT student disk 120) which is mailed90 to the course registrant pursuant to the information 60 which hasbeen previously provided in addition to a videocassette tape 110 whichcontains the continuing education program. This diskette would beappropriate for the computer identified by the participant during thecontact with the course provider.

The encryption process utilized will now be described in detail inassociation with FIG. 1A. During the encryption process 75, anencryption key 76 is selected, which is typically a number of at leastsix characters in length. It is recognized that the longer the key, theharder it will be to break the encryption algorithm. This key is calledthe base key and is used to compute the other keys in the program. Eachstudent disk is built using a different random base key, therebyensuring the uniqueness of each disk.

Each question on the disk is encrypted using a different computed key.This key is routinely changed using a mathematical formula with thequestion number, section number, date-created, social security number,credit card number, expiration date, and any other numeric value aspotential variables in the calculation. The encryption schemeidentification 77 specifies which mathematical formula to use whenencrypting or decrypting questions. There can be any number of formulasbuilt into the registration module. The use of a base key with computedkeys derived from multiple algorithms helps to ensure the integrity ofthe examination. In one embodiment of the invention, this encryptionscheme is extended to rotate among several algorithms with the testusing the encryption scheme identification as the starting point. Thisencryption scheme is not limited to numeric sequences, and may includethe incorporation of alphabetical information as well. In one embodimentof this invention, a combination of alphanumeric information is used inthe encryption scheme. The key is to have coordination between theencrypting program (the registration program) and the decrypting program(the student module). The encryption scheme identification allows theprogram to change over time, again ensuring the integrity of theexamination.

The base encryption key, encryption scheme identification and personalidentifiers are encrypted using a starting key. These encrypted valuesare written in data files on the student disk 78. For simplicity andease of implementation, the starting key is typically hard-coded withinthe registration program and student module, although this is not anecessary requirement, and easily could be varied if appropriate. Usingthe base encryption key and a formula specified by the encryption schemeidentification, the question database for the selected course is builtand copied onto a disk. Included in the question database are the numberof questions to pick in each section and what the percentage of correctanswers are necessary to pass each section. The questions can bemultiple choice, yes/no, or true/false. An entry is made in theregistration database and a label is created.

Continuing with the entire process of encryption/decryption, from startto finish, the base encryption key, encryption scheme identification andpersonal identifiers are decrypted using the starting key 79, which istypically hard-coded in the student module program. A series of tablesare generated and built which are used to speed access to data in theexamination. Questions are encrypted with computed keys which arederived using formulas specified by the encryption schemeidentification.

On first entry into the examination 81, the required number of questionsare randomly picked from each section. The questions selected are markedso that the same questions are selected on subsequent entries into theprogram. In order to gain entry to the test, the user must correctlymatch the information provided at registration 82. The first time thestudent enters the program, typically all the identifiers must becorrectly matched. Subsequent entries into the program are typicallyverified by a subset of the personal identifiers.

Entry into each examination section is protected by a password 83communicated to the student generally in the audio track of the video.Depending on the needs of the accrediting entity, these passwords canvary for each student or can be standardized for each course video. Thestudent answers the randomly selected questions 84. Facilities areprovided to allow the user to navigate back and forth through thequestions in a section. However, once a section is passed, the user isnot allowed to go back. Each section must be successfully completedbefore the student is allowed to progress to the next section.

Part of the information encrypted in the question database are thecorrect answers 85. The answers to the selected question are compared tothe answers provided. The percentage of correct responses is thencomputed. Encrypted along with the questions and answers, is thepercentage of correct answers required to pass the section 86. Thestudent must continue working on a section until the requisite passingpercentage is attained. Once this percentage has been achieved, thesection is marked as completed and the student is not allowed back.Progress is allowed in a forward direction only. Successful completionof a section will result in that section being marked as complete andtime-stamped with the date/time completed 87. This information isextracted when the disk is returned to the registration center.

After the completion of the entire course 88, allowing for a re-entryinto the process depending upon the number of sections in the course, anevaluation section 89 is required to be completed comprised of questionsrequested by the accrediting entity to gather statistics on the courseand examination. Provision is made in the evaluation section to allowtext entry of answers so that opinions and suggestions may be entered.The student is notified of successful completion 91 of the examinationand is referred to the written instructions provided with the video andstudent disk that describe the process to return the materials to theregistration center to be awarded credit.

From a student perspective, and returning to the flow chart in FIG. 1,after successful encryption of the appropriate materials have beeneffected, these materials, including a videocassette 110 of thecontinuing education program and AVT disk 120 created above, are sent 90to the course registrant who would couple this with any ancillary courseprint materials 100 which may have been mailed to the course registrant.

Upon receipt of the course materials, the registrant would be requiredto complete the viewing and generation of required responses which arecontained on the AVT disk within a predetermined amount of time. Thistime may range from one week to one month or more. Failure to completeand return the materials including the AVT disk within the requiredperiod of time would result in the participant not receiving continuingeducation credit from the appropriate state accrediting agency. As shownin FIG. 2, the participant will generally view a continuing educationsegment 130 which is contained on the videocassette. The videocassettemay contain as few as one segment or session (of generally 40 minutes toone hour in duration), or may contain multiple segments or sessionswhich may span several videocassettes. During the viewing of any onesegment contained on the videocassette, and at randomized locationswithin the segment, at least one, and possibly two or more audio orvisual passwords or other indicia or combinations thereof 140 willeither be spoken or visually presented on the television screen. Theparticipant will be required to jot down these indicia for later use inresponding to the questions on the AVT disk. In a preferred embodimentof the invention, the passwords or other indicia will be contained inthe audio track of the tape rather than on the visual track. This willprohibit the participant from “fast forwarding” through segments of thevideocassette and simply looking for visual indicia on the screen, andwill require a complete listening to the entire segment.

After the completion of the viewing of the first segment, theparticipant will have the option to continue with the next segment ofthe program, if the program has two or more segments. If the participantelects to continue viewing the program, this second segment will have atleast one, and possibly two or more, audio or visual passwords or otherindicia or combinations thereof 140 which will be either spoken orvisually presented on the television screen as discussed previously.These indicia may be unique from those contained in the first segment.After completion of the second segment, and if appropriate, theparticipant will have the option to continue with another segment of theprogram if another segment is contained within the course, or he willbegin the AVT phase 160 of the process.

During the AVT phase 160, the participant will insert the AVT disk,either 3.5″ or 5.25″, into the floppy disk drive (either drive A: ordrive B:) into the computer, the AVT disk being matched to the operatingsystem of the participant's computer. The participant will install thesoftware locally on the computer. During the installation process, anddepending upon the sophistication of the end-user, a defaultinstallation will be performed which will install the software on driveC:, or a customized installation will be implemented where the end-userwill have the option of installing the software to a logical drive,e.g., D:, E:, etc.

In order to insure that the participant is in fact, the individual whoregistered for the course, the participant will be required to entervarious personal identification information, such as was providedpreviously 70 during the registration process and a random number ofwhich, or a predetermined number of which, was encoded 80 onto the AVTdisk. Upon entry by the participant of the requested personalidentification information 170, it is checked against the encoded AVTinformation 180 for an exact match of characters. This checking processis generally case insensitive. If the entered information does not matchthe encoded information 180, the participant is permitted to re-enterthe information. If this information does match, then the participant isrequired to enter the at least one segment password 190 which was eitherspoken or visually presented on the viewing screen. If a mis-match ofthe segment password which was entered by the participant is detected,the participant is permitted to re-enter the password or to review thecontinuing education segment 130 paying closer attention to therandomized audio or visual indicia (password(s)) which are present onthat segment 140. If the participant can correctly enter the segmentpassword(s), then the participant is required to demonstrate hisunderstanding of the subject matter of the presentation by taking a test200 which generally contains various multiple-choice type questions. Inorder to demonstrate proficiency of the subject matter, the participantis generally required to correctly answer a predefined number ofquestions, this predefined number being set by the appropriate stateaccrediting agency. If the participant is not able to correctly answer asufficient number of questions, he is permitted to either retake theexamination or to review the continuing education segment 130 followedby retaking the test to demonstrate his proficiency. The questionspresented for this second test may or may not be the same questions asthe participant saw on the first examination. In a preferred embodiment,each test is generated in a randomized fashion from a master set ofquestions present on the disk.

If the participant is successful in passing the examination pertinent tothe segment, the option is available to continue taking the examinationassociated with the next segment 210. As discussed previously with thefirst segment, the participant is required to correctly identify thesegment password(s) 190 correctly before being allowed to begin thetesting process for the next segment of the continuing educationprogram, thereby insuring that the participant did view the segment. Ifthe participant has not viewed the next segment, the participant wouldbegin to view the next continuing education segment 150 on thevideocassette and continue with the program 130 as was describedpreviously. Upon the successful viewing of this second segment, andprovided that the computer which contains the AVT diskette has not beenturned off, the participant is permitted to skip the entering of the AVTpersonal identification passwords 170 and would enter the process at theentry of the appropriate segment password(s) 190. Upon completion of thesuccessful entry of the segment password(s) 190 and the passing of thesegment test 200, the participant would exit the AVT computer phase ofthe process 220.

In FIG. 3, upon the completion of the continuing education course andcorrectly answering of the questions during the AVT phase of theprocess, the participant would return the videocassette(s) and AVT disk230 to the course provider. The returned videocassette 240 would beshelved in the videocassette library 250 for use by a future secondrequestor. The AVT disk 260 would be analyzed 270 to determine that theencrypted personal identifiers did match the inputted response 280 andthat the questions were correctly answered at least to the predeterminedlevel of proficiency required by the state accrediting agency. Ifappropriate, an evaluation form is printed and reviewed 300 as well asany student generated questions 310 for instructor review and responseif appropriate. The state accrediting agency is notified 320 regardingthe completion of the course by the participant and the participantgranted certification for the appropriate number of continuing educationcredits.

By following the above sequence of steps, it is possible to audit andverify compliance with state agency accrediting requirements in acost-effective manner and yet in a non-traditional environment. The highcost and inconvenience of centralized teaching locations is eliminated,thereby permitting more flexible learning times for the courseparticipants.

By way of example only, and for the purposes of complying with the bestmode known by the applicants as determined by the date of the filing ofthis application, a pictorial representation of the computer screenswhich would be seen by a course participant are shown. These screens areby way of example only and are not intended in any way, to teach thereader any subject matter which may be disclosed by the examples, thepresented information being fictitious in nature and for illustrativepurposes only.

Upon the entry into the AVT system and shown in FIG. 4, the participantis asked to verify that he is the course requestor as identified insection 60 of FIG. 1. The default response is “NO” thereby requiring apositive step be taken by the participant. A second verification screenis shown in FIG. 5, wherein the participant is asked to re-input thebiographic information as well as personal identifier(s) which wereprovided to the course provider during the registration processidentified in sections 60 and 70 of FIG. 1. In order to aid in the stateaccrediting agency, the professional license number of the participantis requested if pertinent, as well as various unique personal identifierinformation, e.g., mother's maiden name, the social security number ofthe participant and the credit card number and expiration date used whenregistering and paying for the course.

As seen in FIG. 6, a two segment course is indicated containing section1 and section 2 and further indicating that none of the ten questionspertinent to sections 1 or 2 have been answered at this point. Theparticipant has various options available, each of which will bediscussed in turn, but include providing “Feedback” to the courseprovider; starting over; measuring progress, using a calculator ifappropriate for the course material; user customization options; help;and “Quit” functionality. Upon the highlighting of section 1 of the AVTcomponent, the participant is prompted for the password(s) which areassociated with this section. In the example, only one password wasmentioned during the first section or segment. In other continuingeducation programs, it is recognized that several passwords may berequired to be entered. As indicated previously, the password(s) willgenerally be audio password(s) or other audio indicia, although it ispossible that some visual indicia may be present or combinations thereofUpon the successful match of the entry of the password(s) associatedwith the viewed segment with the encoded password(s) on the AVT disk,the user is shown that there are ten (10) questions contained in thefirst section and that none have been answered or marked for review. Theparticipant is requested to respond to answer all questions for thissection.

FIG. 9 shows a sample first question for this first section pertinent totaxation of property to a surviving spouse with four multiple choiceanswers. The participant is provided with the option of either answeringthe question by using the mouse to click on the button associated withthe answer deemed to be correct by the participant or to mark thequestion for review later. Upon either answering the question or markingit for later review, the participant can go to the next question, ormove the next section, if a next section was contained in the program.If necessary, the participant has an electronic calculator available aswell as the ability to go back to the previous computer screen. FIG. 10is exemplary of the display which the participant would see after thecompletion of all ten questions. The AVT component would have checkedfor the correct response and in this example, it was determined that theparticipant correctly entered 8 responses while incorrectly entering 2responses. In this hypothetical example, the state accrediting agencyhad indicated to the course provider that a minimum of 90% of thequestions must be answered correctly before the participant wouldreceive credit for the continuing education course. Therefore, it wouldbe possible for the participant to review this section on thevideocassette and retake the examination or to try to answer thequestions on the second section prior to reviewing the course materialand retaking the pertinent examinations associated with each segment. Ifthe participant is successful in passing a segment of the program, thenit is not necessary for him to retake that segment's examination asecond time.

FIG. 11 indicates that there is a mandatory course evaluation associatedwith this continuing education seminar and would be required to becompleted for the participant to receive continuing education creditsfrom the state accrediting agency. An option is also provided to thestudent for “Instructor Questions and Comments” and is a rudimentarynotepad word processing editor, FIG. 12, that the participant may use inpreparing the comments.

FIG. 13 illustrates the ability of the student to retake the examinationassociated with the failed section. Typically, this section will containnew questions different from those presented initially to the student,although there may be some overlap in the questions depending on thesize of the bank of questions contained on the disk and the subjectmatter of the course. A predefined number of restarts is permitted foreach course program. FIG. 14 is a progress screen which would bedisplayed by pressing the “Progress” button described in associationwith FIG. 6. In this hypothetical example, the student completed 8 outof 10 questions correctly in the first section of the course, did nottake the examination associated with the second part of the course anddid not complete the evaluation form. FIG. 15 illustrates some of thecustomizable parameters which are available to the participant bypressing the “Options” button described in association with FIG. 6.

Videocassette & Floppy Disk & Audiocassette Version

In one alternative embodiment of the invention, a further level ofsecurity is added to the system by the substitution of an audio cassettewhich the participant is required to utilize and respond to several testbank questions which have been generated pertinent to the viewed segmentof the course. The participant will record his responses directly ontothe audio cassette provided. When all questions responses have beensuccessfully recorded, the audio cassette, computer disk and videocassette are returned to the course provider who matches the audiocassette to that of previously articulated responses of the participantto the course provider during the registration call 50 wherein variousrecorded biographical information 60 and personal identificationinformation 70 had been provided.

CD-ROM Version

In still another embodiment of the invention, a CD-ROM is used toperform the task of verifying a registrant's identify and/or auditingactual comprehension and participation in continuing education courses.As shown in FIG. 1B, text-based program content is delivered onCD-ROM(s) 90 to the registrant's home or office following telephone/faxcourse registration 350. Multiple continuing education courses areavailable on the media, the number being dependent upon the amount oftext and graphics and/or video content, enabling a registrant tocomplete as many courses as desired. The media is labeled with a uniquebeginning “pin-number” 340 that was generated at the time ofregistration 350. It is the responsibility of the registrant tocorrectly encode that number to initiate the CD-ROM based instruction.After the pin-number is successfully encoded, the registrant selects acourse 360 and begins content study. After completion of the studyprocess, the registrant encodes responses to questions randomlygenerated from a test bask that relates to the curriculum content 370.Correct responses to questions must be encoded in order to achievemastery status as determined by the accrediting agency. Upon achievingmastery of the subject, a unique completion “pin-number” 380 isgenerated and visually displayed for the registrant to manually record.Unique completion “pin-numbers” are generated and displayed for eachmastered course which is engaged by the participant 390. At the end ofthe instruction as determined by the participant 400, the registrantcalls a telephone number to the course supplier, and when prompted,provides the beginning “pin-number” and all subsequent completion“pin-numbers” for each course taken 410. Credit is issued to registrantswho prove successful course mastery by providing thecorrect/corresponding completion “pin-number” for each completed course420. The course provider notifies the accrediting agency 430 whichissues appropriate notification to the participant/registrant 440.

DVD-ROM Version

In still yet another embodiment of the invention, a DVD-ROM is used toperform the task of verifying a registrant's identify and/or auditingactual comprehension and participation in continuing education courses.As shown in FIG. 1C, text with video program content is delivered onDVD-ROM(s) 90 to the registrant's home or office following telephone/faxcourse registration 460. Multiple continuing education courses areavailable on the media, the number being dependent upon the amount oftext and graphics and/or video content, enabling a registrant tocomplete as many courses as desired. The media is labeled with a uniquebeginning “pin-number” 450 that was generated at the time ofregistration 460. It is the responsibility of the registrant tocorrectly encode that number to initiate the DVD-ROM based instruction.After the pin-number is successfully encoded, the registrant selects acourse 470 and begins content study. During each course segment, audio,and/or video password(s) associated with each viewing segment are eitherspoken or displayed and manually recorded by the course participant 480.After completion of the study process, the registrant encodes responsesto questions randomly generated from a test bank that relates to thecurriculum content 490 after having correctly encoding the audio and/orvideo password(s). Correct responses to questions must be encoded inorder to achieve mastery status as determined by the accrediting agency.In a manner analogous to FIG. 1, the participant may continueinstructional viewing with a subsequent segment 500 or may postponefurther instructional activity until a later time 520. Upon completionof the viewing segments 510, the course registrant will return theDVD-ROM to the course provider 530 who will contact the accreditingagency 540 who will ultimately issue appropriate credits pertinent tothe agency requirements 550.

VCR & Camera Version

In a further embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1D, the identifyof the registrant and his participation in the course is provided by alinkage between the tape player (or subsequent device) and a camera. Thedevice is connected to the audio output of the VCR and to the shuttercontrol of the camera. The camera must be capable of date/time stampingof the generated images.

The first portion of the program must allow the registrant to verify theproper operation of the camera 560. The registrant will be informed thata picture (image) will be taken and that if it does not occursuccessfully, then a problem exists which must be resolved prior tocontinuing with the education material viewing.

Audio signals are recorded onto the audio track of the videotaped course570. These inaudible signals are randomly distributed throughout thevideotaped course content. These signals are used as a triggeringmechanism. The use of these audio signals proves the program was runningat the time the picture (image) was taken by the camera. Upon detection580 of the proper audio code, the device activates the camera shutter,taking a picture of the registrant and simultaneously date/time stampingit. Following course completion, the camera and course materials arereturned to the course provider for verification, content assessment andprogram evaluation. The pictures (images) are printed and delivered tothe accrediting agency or other provider with results of the contentmaterial assessment as proof of the registrant's participation.

In yet another alternative embodiment of the invention, a video camerais mounted above a standard video monitor as well as “real-time” audiosoftware which provides and facilitates live two-way telephoneconversations. The course materials are viewed on the computer displayfrom appropriate media (e.g., DVD-ROM or equivalent) supplied in thematerials provided by the course provider. Participation is monitored bythe video camera in a “real-time” environment with either a randomizedor predetermined number of images taken of the participant and recordedonto a media device. Responses to a unique sampling of test bankquestions generated from the media are keyed in on the computer andsimultaneously recorded onto the media device. The media device is thenreturned to the course provided for evaluation, verification and coursecredit valuation processing.

Internet Website Version

In still yet another alternative embodiment of the invention shown inFIG. 1E, the computer system of the participant is used toelectronically link to the course provider's web site on the Internet.In this mode, the registrant will log onto the Internet via an InternetService Provider (ISP) and access a web page by either an accreditingagency or course provider 600 by a Universal Resource Locator (URL)address. In order to effect the continuing education purposes, a menu ofavailable courses 610 will be displayed as well as an ability toregister and activate the course. Available courses are added to a“shopping cart” 620 wherein further course description is available 630to aid in the participant course selection process. The materials arestored locally to PC RAM (random access memory) 640 with the capabilityof downloading and printing course materials 650. After course selectionhas occurred, an online registration 660 sequence is available for theparticipant. From the selected courses 670, a personal identificationand course purchasing record is generated which contains variousbibliographic and personal identifiers as discussed previously 680. Thismaterial is stored on a registration server 690 and an encrypted batchfile obtained by the course provider 700. After completion of theregistration process 710, a “pin” number is generated with the option ofeither returning to the main menu 610 or proceeding to begin the course720.

If the proceed option is elected, then the database is checked for theregistrant's record 740 followed by course sign on consisting of theidentification of the participant (name) and assigned “pin” number 750.If a mis-match is detected, then the user is placed back to the mainmenu 610 However, if a match is found 760, then the registrant ispermitted to review the access web page 780 with links to the course andpersonal information 780 as seen in FIG. 1F. Upon activation of theselected course 800, the material 810 is downloaded 830 in a formatsuitable for printing, e.g., PDF format, capable of being read by forexample, by Acrobat Reader, a shareware product. An optional neuronplugin is available for electronic mail and Internet access 840, theneuron plugin being an enhancement to a browser, e.g., Netscape®, whichis a “run-time” version of a management software product by Asymetric®Toolbook. The neuron plugin allows an end-user to download a course to ahard drive for viewing off-line at a later time. This pluginadditionally allows the end-user to directly link to the Internet whereall assessment and testing is performed in an on-line environment. Afterreviewing the course content, the applicant moves to the testing phaseto determine the mastery of the subject matter 820. In a manneranalogous to that described previously, various questions are answered850 with subsequent grading 860 and data archived 870. The courseprovider may cross-check for registrant payment 880 with notification ofthe accrediting agency 890. If a problem exists with the payment of thecourse, the registrant is notified 900 by E-mail, form letter, fax,etc., which if resolved in an appropriate manner 910, will result in thenotification of the accrediting agency 890.

This invention has been described in detail with reference to specificembodiments thereof, including the respective best modes for carryingout each embodiment. It shall be understood that these illustrations areby way of example and not by way of limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A process which comprises the steps of: encodingat least one personal identifier onto a user interface media; displayinga prompt on said user interface media for the at least one personalidentifier which requires a match of the at least one personalidentifier encoded on the user interface media; encoding at least onepassword onto a data storage media; encoding the at least one passwordfrom the data storage media onto the user interface media; anddisplaying a prompt on the user interface media for entering the atleast one password which requires a match of the at least one passwordfrom the data storage media with the at least one password encoded onthe user interface media.
 2. The process of claim 1, wherein the userinterface media is a removable magnetic disk drive.
 3. The process ofclaim 1 wherein the at least one password on the data storage mediacomprises a password selected from the group consisting of audiopasswords, visual passwords and combinations thereof.
 4. The process ofclaim 1 which further comprises recording an audio response onto anaudio cassette.
 5. The process of claim 1 which further comprises takingat least one image of a viewer of the system.
 6. The process of claim 5wherein the at least one image is stored on a storage medium selectedfrom the group consisting of a film, the interfacing media and theviewable media.
 7. The process of claim 1, wherein the data storagemedia is selected from the group consisting of video cassettes, audiocassettes, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs and sites on a global computer network. 8.The process of claim 1 further comprising: storing a plurality ofquestions pertinent to a subject matter of the data storage media on theuser interface media; displaying at least one question of the pluralityof questions on the user interface media; displaying a prompt forentering an answer to said at least one question; storing an answer tosaid at least one question; and comparing said entered answer to saidstored answer.
 9. The process of claim 8 wherein the step of storingfurther comprises: selecting a random base key; generating at least oneencrypted key from the base key; and encrypting each question using theat least one encrypted key.
 10. The process of claim 9 wherein the stepof encrypting further comprises: using a different encrypted key foreach question.
 11. The process of claim 9 wherein the step of selectinga base key comprises selecting a random numeric value of at least twodigits.
 12. The process of claim 11 wherein the step of generating atleast one encrypted key from the base key uses a mathematical formulawhich includes at least one personal identifier.
 13. The process ofclaim 12 wherein the step of generating at least one computed key fromthe base key uses a mathematical formula which further includes at leasta software version number.
 14. The process of claim 11 wherein the stepof generating at least one encrypted key from the base key uses amathematical formula which includes at least one variable which isselected from the group consisting of question number, section number,date-created, social security number, credit card number and credit cardexpiration date.
 15. The process of claim 9 wherein a base encryptionkey, an encryption scheme identification and the at least one personalidentifier are encrypted using an encryption algorithm using thestarting key and written in data files on a magnetic disk.
 16. Theprocess of claim 15 wherein the magnetic disk further comprises anencrypted question database, an encrypted answer key, and an encryptednumber of required correct responses.
 17. The process of claim 16wherein subsequent to achieving the required correct responses, asection of the question database is marked as passed and inaccessible toa user.
 18. The process of 17 wherein subsequent to the section of thequestion database being marked as passed, an entry is made on themagnetic media indicating at least a date and a time of completion. 19.A process for verifying that a user is attentive to an entire course ofstudy comprising: developing a defined length course of study andaffixing said course of study to a tangible medium; generating a set ofpass codes; inserting said pass codes at random locations throughoutsaid defined length of said course of study; requiring said user tocollect said pass codes; and evaluating users collection of pass codes.20. The process as recited in claim 19 further comprising: providingcredit to said user based on user's ability to correctly collect adefined number of pass codes.
 21. The process as recited in claim 19wherein said set of pass codes is generated for a group of users. 22.The process as recited in claim 19 wherein said set of pass codes isgenerated for an individual user.
 23. The process as recited in claim 19wherein said set of pass codes is unique for every user.
 24. The processas recited in claim 19 further comprising the steps of: encodingidentification information for a user onto a media; requiring said userto enter said pass codes onto said media containing said useridentification information.
 25. The process as recited in claim 24wherein said media is capable of interfacing with a computer.
 26. Theprocess as recited in claim 19 wherein said tangible medium contains anaudio component and a video component.
 27. The process as recited inclaim 26 wherein one or more of said pass codes are contained in saidaudio component.
 28. The process as recited in claim 19 wherein saidtangible medium is selected from the group consisting of videocassettes, audio cassettes, compact discs, digital versatile discs, andsites on a global informational network.
 29. The process as recited inclaim 19 further comprising: generating a set of questions pertaining tothe subject matter of said course of study.
 30. The process as recitedin claim 29 further comprising: providing credit to said user when apredetermined number of correct responses to said set of questions havebeen provided.
 31. The process as recited in claim 19 furthercomprising: dividing said course of study into a plurality of segments;inserting a first pass code from said set of pass codes in a randomlocation in a first segment of said course of study; requiring said userto collect said first pass code; requiring said user to enter said firstpass code to view a set of questions pertaining to the subject matter ofsaid first segment of said course of study.
 32. The process as recitedin claim 31 further comprising: generating a second pass code after apredefined number of correct responses have been entered in response tosaid set of questions pertaining to the subject matter of said firstsegment of said course of study; and displaying said second pass code.33. The process as recited in claim 32 further comprising: requiringsaid user to enter said second pass code to view a set of questionspertaining to the subject matter of a second segment of said course ofstudy.
 34. The process as recited in claim 31 further comprising:inserting a second pass code from said set of pass codes in a randomlocation in a second segment of said course of study; requiring saiduser to collect said second pass code; and requiring said user to entersaid second pass code to view a set of questions pertaining to thesubject matter of said second segment of said course of study.
 35. Aprocess for verifying that a user is attentive to an entire course ofstudy comprising: developing a defined length course of study; affixingsaid course of study to a tangible medium; dividing said course of studyinto a plurality of segments; generating a plurality of pass codes;inserting at least one pass code into each of said plurality ofsegments; requiring said user to collect said pass codes; and requiringsaid user to enter said at least one pass code from each of saidplurality of segments to view a set of questions pertaining to thesubject matter of each of said segments.